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American Morning

Remembering Elizabeth Edwards; Obama Facing Criticism From Democrats; The Search for an American Soldier in Afghanistan; Deep Freeze in the Sunshine State

Aired December 08, 2010 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Wednesday morning to you. Thanks so much for joining us on AMERICAN MORNING. It is the 8th of December. I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us.

A look at the top stories now, and President Obama facing criticism from his own party this morning. House Democrats met to discuss what they say is a botched deal on tax cuts, but the president is pushing back. We're live in Washington where this morning the fight is not over.

ROBERTS: An American soldier reported captured last year in Afghanistan turns up on a newly released video. This time the Idaho native looks different and there's another man seen with him. We're live in Kabul this morning with the latest on the search for private first class Bowe Bergdahl.

CHETRY: And a deep freeze in the sunshine state, temperatures in south Florida dipping into the 20s threatening citrus crops. We could all soon be paying a price for the bitter cold.

ROBERTS: But first, Democrats, venting their frustrations with President Obama's deal to extend tax cuts across the board. The party's rank and file meeting last night and making it known they feel as if they were cut out of negotiations between the White House and Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ANTHONY WEINER, (D) NEW YORK: I honor the president for wanting to solve these problems. And I'm not saying that you never compromise. But he just -- he and his team don't seem to be that good at it. And that's a real problem for a lot of Democrats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Our Suzanne Malveaux is live at the White House this morning. And Congressman Weiner not the only one lashing out at the president. There are a lot of people not happy about this.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John, those are the polite comments we heard. If you go behind the closed doors, the closed door meeting of the House Democrats last night, reports of this caucus, you had Representative Chris Van Hollen, he's the one who negotiated on behalf of the Democrats. He came out of that meeting said our guys got taken to the cleaners.

One of his colleagues, as well, Congressman Gary Ackerman of New York went on to say, "I disagree we didn't get anything. We got screwed." Clearly there is a lot of frustration over the liberal Democrats over this deal the president struck with Republicans.

There were Democrats involved trying to move this thing forward. But the president yesterday, John, in a rare flash of really emotion and frustration, you could see it, you could feel it, that he is trying to convince the American people a couple of things.

First and foremost, that he had very little choice in the matter when it came to compromising, negotiating with Republicans. He said essentially they had tried to take the middle class tax cut hostage and he wasn't going to try to hurt the people. He talked about collateral damage, the American people that he really needed to get this done to make sure at least there were tax cuts for the middle class.

He also reached out to the Democrats but also fought back, John, saying things that, look, you know, you've got to look at the long- term, not the short-term. He was trying to show them that he does have some spine and that, yes, he is still a Democrat who on his campaign promises is moving forward trying to deliver on what it was that he said he was going to do for this country. I want you to take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I don't think there's a single Democrat out there who if they looked at where we started when I came into office and look at where we are now would say that somehow we have not moved in the direction that I promised.

Take a tally. Look at what I promised during the campaign. There's not a single thing that I've said that I would do that I have not either done or tried to do. And if I haven't gotten it done yet, I'm still trying to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, John, the president is calling foul here, essentially saying, what is he talking about? He got the health care reform through legislation. Obviously that was historic legislation, an economic stimulus package, financial reform regulations, all of these things he's pushed forward.

And he also remains consistent, John, in the campaign. He talked constantly about negotiating, bringing Republicans and Democrats together and trying to find middle ground, that this in fact was an example of what he had been talking about.

ROBERTS: He didn't like the sanctimonious, as he put it, tone of some Democrats are the far left. But he's going out there again today to try to sort of tamp down the anger he's feeling from his party. Obviously he wants to get this passed.

MALVEAUX: Well, the vice president is going on the hill. He's going to be meeting with -- closed doors -- with some of the Democrats who have been most vocal about this to try to see if he can't smooth some things over.

We are going to hear from the president today. He's meeting with the leader of Poland. He'll be taking some questions. Clearly this is going to come up again. He's going to again make an appeal to the American people to have them understand, look, this is what we need to have happen.

In all likelihood, John, we know that the Democrats as much of the small group are going to complain about this and speak loudly about it. They're not likely going to be blocking this legislation. Nobody wants to be responsible for raising taxes for folks, and that is exactly what would happen if these Bush tax cuts expire and nothing happens in Congress.

ROBERTS: In particular when a lot of this, according to some economic analysts, may actually stimulate the economy. So we'll see where it all goes today. You'll have a good job today covering all this. Suzanne Malveaux for us --

MALVEAUX: Busy day. Thanks.

ROBERTS: Coming up in 30 minute's time, we'll speak with David Axelrod, the senior adviser to President Obama, about the criticism that the president is getting from members of his own party and what he plans to do about it.

CHETRY: Also new this morning, the WikiLeaks document dump straining the relationship between the U.S. and Australia. The Australian foreign minister Kevin Rudd now publicly questioning the adequacy of U.S. security. In an interview with Reuters, he said, quote, "Mr. Assange is himself not responsible for the unauthorized release of 250,000 documents. The Americans are responsible for that."

And also new this morning, Assange writing an editorial in today's "The Australian" newspaper, saying, quote, "I've been accused of treason even though I'm an Australian, not a U.S. citizen. There have been dozens of calls in the U.S. for me to be taken out by U.S. special forces. Sarah Palin says I should be hunted down like Osama bin Laden."

ROBERTS: New this morning, U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen is in Seoul, South Korea right now meeting with South Korean military leaders. Mullen issued a challenge to China calling on Beijing to pressure its communist ally in North Korea to behave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. MIKE MULLEN, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: China has unique influence, therefore they bear unique responsibility. Now is the time for Beijing to step up to that responsibility and help guide the North and, indeed, the entire region towards a better future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Well, this trip is a show of U.S. military support against new aggression from North Korea.

CHETRY: Attention holiday shippers -- UPS now requires a photo I.D. from customer shipping packages from its retail locations around the world. The company's added an extra layer of security after explosives made it on to a UPS plane in Yemen. The directive applies to the UPS store, to Mailboxes, Et Cetera, and other authorized shipping outlets.

ROBERTS: And Florida waking up frozen this morning, the cold threatening to ruin citrus crops. Overnight temperatures in south Florida dropping into the 20s. Farmers say they're concerned because even a little bit of frost can cause major problems for the state's multimillion dollar industry.

(WEATHER BREAK)

ROBERTS: New indications this morning that the jobs freeze is beginning to thaw ever so little. Our Christine Romans has got this morning's business headlines for us. Good morning.

ROMANS: And we look everywhere we can for signs of the freeze thawing. We have a number here from the job opening and labor turnover survey. It's called JOLT, and this will jolt you awake this morning. 4.4 job seekers for every job opening in this country is how it works out approximately. That's an improvement.

In fact, in October, there were 3.4 million advertised job openings. That's up 12 percent from the prior month, and that's the most job openings in this country in about two years.

So that shows you that government and business are starting to advertise for jobs again. The question is on the other side of the equation, how many people are still laying off? And so now we know there are about 4.4 job seekers for every available position. It was much, much worse even six months ago or a year ago. So this is showing slow improvement.

I always say the labor market in this economy in this country is so dynamic. You have tens of thousands of people getting and leaving jobs all the time every day in this country, and so this is a kind of a way to look at where we stand right now.

And this is showing a little bit of optimism also because we've got that abysmal employment report last Friday. This is actually more current. This is a little more current than that jobs report. So some economists are looking at this and saying, hmm, maybe after that --

ROBERTS: Getting our hopes up only have them dashed. ROMANS: That's the way this economy is, isn't it. I keep calling it a jagged recovery. Jagged -- not even bumpy, jagged.

ROBERTS: Is that an acronym for something, like JOLT?

ROMANS: No. Professional business services, education, health services are where most of those job openings are just to let you know.

ROBERTS: Christine, thank you.

CHETRY: Well, new this morning, video of the U.S. soldier reported captured in Afghanistan nearly a year and a half ago. The family of Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl from Idaho confirms that he is the man seen in the video with what appears to be a cut on his left cheek. This is in another video.

Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson in Kabul with more on what we can tell from the tape. Do they know when this recent video was shot?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's not clear, Kiran. It does seem to show him quite lightly dressed. And it does appear to be in the mountains and, perhaps later in the day because it's slightly dark. And in the mountains right now it's very cold at that time of day, so perhaps this was shot a few months ago. It's very hard to tell.

Previous videos of him, the last video in April he appeared very thin, he had a beard, slightly longer hair. But now he appears equally thin.

On this video released by the Taliban, they say that he is a prisoner of the Islamic of Afghanistan, meaning the Taliban, that he is receiving full Islamic rights, that is to say that they say they are treating him properly. And some of the video clips released on this tape show him eating food and also show him dressed in his military uniform.

Again, unclear when those other clips were taken, but this, they say on this video in this 35-minute videotape of which he appears only for a few seconds, they say he is alive and is their prisoner right now.

CHETRY: So any leads, or any plan or course of action on the part of the U.S. military to see if he can be rescued?

ROBERTSON: It's not clear at this stage. The most recent rescue of that British aid worker took place in the mountains and came to a poor conclusion. That is the aid worker that was killed as part of that operation, unfortunately. So there's obviously a great deal of caution before undertaking operations, and they would have to rely on knowing exactly where Private First Class Bergdahl is being held.

The videos seem to indicate that he's along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Our translator who works with us here describes the other men with him appear they're from the region where he was captured. But again, it's not clear when the video was shot, how much of it is staged for the camera. But it does appear to be along that border region, Kiran.

CHETRY: His face is very -- it doesn't look like he's doing well there. It's probably very hard for his family to see the video. Hopefully, though, they'll be able to get him out of there. Thank you, Nic. Appreciate it.

ROBERTS: Still ahead this morning, this just in. It's good to be Derek Keter. Five rings, Minka Kelly, and now a new $51 million contract with the New York Yankees. It's a done deal, but is there any bad blood between them?

CHETRY: And a big drug bust at a prestigious Ivy League school, five students taken into custody. We'll tell you what cops say was going on.

ROBERTS: And Elizabeth Edwards being remembered this morning as a fighter both on the campaign trail and the face of the disease that would take her life. Candy Crowley and a personal friend will reflect on her legacy.

It's coming up on 14 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: She is being remembered for her resilience and grace this morning. One day after announcing that she was stopping treatment for breast cancer, Elizabeth Edwards died yesterday at her home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She was 61 years old.

CHETRY: Her estranged husband John Edwards was there, as well as her children. She leaves behind two small children, 10-year-old Jack and 12-year-old Emma Claire, and their daughter Cate who is 28 years old.

Joining us with some personal insight into Elizabeth's life is Karen Finney. She's a former communications director for Elizabeth Edwards during the Kerry-Edwards campaign. Also Candy Crowley joins us live from Washington with some of her personal stories, as well.

Let me start with you, though, Karen. This is interesting. She didn't want people to think that she lost her battle with cancer.

KAREN FINNEY, FRIEND OF ELIZABETH EDWARDS: Yes.

CHETRY: She wanted really the focus to be the battle of living a meaningful life.

FINNEY: Absolutely amazing. She really understood, particularly after the loss of Wade, that so much of, you know, there's always going to be times in our lives when something happened that you have to pick yourself up and keep moving. And in spite of those things, have a meaningful life. You know, that's how you win. And so to her -- I mean, I'm very grateful at the end of her life she felt like she won. Because, you know, she had cancer, she fought on. And frankly, I think the fact that she turned that into an opportunity to be a voice for women in particular. You guys were talking about this earlier in terms of breast cancer and the importance of screenings. But also, you know, health care, which is such a huge issue in this country. So to her, she won. She would say she was the mother of four children. She has, you know, three wonderful, beautiful children who I know are going to go on to do amazing things. So that's a great life.

ROBERTS: She did. She lived a good life. And, Candy, she was known as such a strong woman. I mean, just the fact when Wade was killed in that horrible car accident, that might have sidelined many people for the rest of her life. Yet she picked herself up, and she went on to have more children and do some great things in politics and in advocacy. And, of course, survive all the terrible things that happened after the 2008 campaign.

CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": Yes, I mean, in fact, when -- I remember I first went down during John Edwards' first political campaign for Senate everyone had talked about and there was a lot of buzz about this new, young guy from North Carolina. But she struck me at the time as kind of the force behind everything. She was a presence. I mean, we listen to, you know, people talk about her faith and people talk about how she wanted to live each day meaningfully, and that was true. But she was also very tough. She was, I think in many instances kind of the backbone of John Edwards' campaign. When people couldn't quite figure out where he was, she always knew. I mean, she always -- you know, had like very -- you know, no need for translation statements lots of times. She was just one of those kind of people. And so -- she was, you know, there were people on her campaign or -- sorry on his campaign who thought she was the task master. But the fact is that she had very definite ideas and she was a very strong woman.

ROBERTS: Got to be tough when it comes to politics.

FINNEY: Well, Candy is so right. There were so many times, certainly in the 2004 campaign where, you know, the leaders from the campaign, from the John Kerry side would call me and say, you've got to tell Elizabeth to do this or to do that. And I would say, do you know who you're talking about? You tell her, are you crazy? I mean, she had definite ideas about a lot of things. She was really tough. You know, but part of what was so great about that, I have to say working for her, is that it made you up your own game because she was always pushing and saying, you know -- you know, is it open press? Can we get people in there? How many people can we get in there? How many stops can we do?

You know, she found out that she had cancer, actually it was the weekend before the election in 2004. And, you know, Senator Kerry actually called her and said, you know, do what you have to do to take care of yourself. And she said, look, I'm going to campaign down to the very last minute because that's what I can do. Three days is, you know, not going to make a difference. Literally after the speech at Daniel Hall, got into the car, went to the hospital and started treatment.

CHETRY: And she -- why was she doing all of this? I mean, a lot of it was this -- I mean, she just had a fierce loyalty to John Edwards.

FINNEY: Yes.

CHETRY: And so seeing what happened and knowing what happened with the affair was devastating obviously for her but also for a lot of people that supported the campaign.

FINNEY: Yes.

CHETRY: How did they leave it? Because when we interviewed her, when John interviewed her back in 2009, she said she wasn't going to throw away 30 years of a marriage and that she was going to give it a try. They then were since estranged, but as we know, he was with her.

FINNEY: Yes. You know, I think that's really part of a testament to her character that again, she understood, the father to their children, their loving children, and he needed to be there for them. And, you know, again, they had 30 years together. And, you know, family and friends and faith, that's really what sustained her throughout her life. And that's what she wanted, you know, in the end of her life. And so grateful that she had that around her. And she went in peace and she made peace, I think, with everything that happened because I think she knew she had to.

ROBERTS: Yes. You know, I talked to her many times in official circles such as an interview that we did in 2009 and unofficially. I rode on a shuttle with her once. I had a talk with her another time in the airport.

And, Candy, I was struck by, you know, a woman how she approached her cancer. She was very matter of fact about it. She didn't really get emotional about it. It was just the sense that she wasn't -- she knew that she was in a battle that would probably eventually take her life, but she just wasn't going to let it get her down.

CROWLEY: Right. And I think in some ways, you should not underestimate the impact of the death of her 16-year-old and what that had on her life as well as John Edwards' life, as well. But first is what they say propelled them into public life. It's one of those things where afterwards, just two years after Wade's death is when he first got into politics. And they cite that as one of the reasons they did. But it's also one of the reasons that when she got this bad news about her cancer recurring -- if you look back at Wade's death and what she said in her own book and what she said so many times on the trail and privately, which is the worst thing that could ever happen to me has already happened.

FINNEY: Yes.

CROWLEY: I lost my son. Nothing else will ever be that bad. And I think that's how she approached it. She took that approach as well as this is what I've got to work with. And I'm going to do the best I can with this. I think it also influenced her relationship with John Edwards in the last year or so because there's practicality. He's the kids' dad, and that's who was left when she was gone.

ROBERTS: Yes.

CROWLEY: And also, some perspective of her own that she'd already been through the worst thing.

ROBERTS: Yes.

CROWLEY: And it wasn't John Edwards' dalliance that was the worst thing.

ROBERTS: Well, she and Wade are together again. So perhaps there's some comfort now.

FINNEY: Absolutely. It's a nice way to think about it.

CHETRY: Karen Finney, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

FINNEY: Thank you.

CHETRY: Candy, great to talk to you as well. We're going to take a quick break.

Twenty-three minutes past the hour. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty-six minutes past the hour. A look at the "Morning Talkers" this morning. We're talking Kanye West. He made music as sprawlingly messy as his life. Rolling Stone is giving top honors to Kanye for best album of 2010, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" and best single for the track "Runaway."

ROBERTS: If I could just say, I think Taylor Swift had the best album last year.

What the heck is that? What looks like some sort of a mystery fireball was spotted over Stone Mountain, Georgia, last week. Wow. Look at that.

CHETRY: Is that that plane?

ROBERTS: Oh, I know what it is. It's the sun shining off of a contrail. Some explanations were awesome like it's a baby superman coming to earth. That's awesome all right. Experts got to ruin the fun by saying it's probably just a regular old jet and just an optical illusion. But it does look like maybe the setting sun was --

CHETRY: It always happens at sundown because of the sky, because of the way the clouds are, it makes it looks bright orange or bright pink at times.

ROBERTS: Either that or some passengers onboard an aircraft are not having a good time because the plane's on fire.

CHETRY: Yes. Well, the captain where he belongs in pinstripes, the New York Yankees Derek Jeter making it official yesterday. Announcing a three-year, $51 million deal for the 36-year-old shortstop. But Jeter actually said he was angry that talks went so public. He's already the Yankees' all-time hit leader and he'll likely become the first to have 3,000 hits in pinstripes sometime this year.

ROBERTS: That's negotiations best kept private.

And there are trick shots already some of the biggest things on the web. Now they're making another splash. Some of the most amazing cool basketball shots you'll ever see alley-oops off of the roof, bouncing it off their heads, hitting it off of a tee. And every time, all wet, but nothing but net.

CHETRY: Pretty cool.

Well, still ahead, President Obama taking a beating from members of his own party over the deal that he cut with Republicans to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for all. The president's senior adviser David Axelrod will be joining us live in just four minutes. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Live picture from Atlanta right now where the skies are beautiful, but the temperatures not. Crossing the bottom of the hour on this Wednesday, the 8th of December. And a cold day on tap for much of the east.

CHETRY: We're crossing the half. Time to get our top stories.

No relief from the snow in parts of the northeast. In the suburbs of Buffalo, New York, more than 40 inches on the ground. Two feet of snow in parts of northeast Ohio, northwest Pennsylvania, and another system being fed by Lake Erie. And it's expected to belt the region again today.

ROBERTS: The Australian government is blaming the United States and not the founder of WikiLeaks for those embarrassing State Department leaks last month. Australian foreign minister Kevin Rudd says jailed WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange should not be held responsible for the unauthorized release of those classified cables. He is questioning the adequacy of U.S. security and says the leaks were America's fault.

CHETRY: Five Columbia University students have been charged with selling LSD-spiked candy and other drugs in what police are calling one of the largest takedowns on a New York City campus in recent history. Three off-campus suppliers have also been indicted. Police say that most of the sales took place at fraternity houses. Undercover agents bought about $11,000 worth of cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy, Adderall and LSD during a five-month operation and got many of those sales on videotape. The liquid LSD was sold in (INAUDIBLE).

ROBERTS: Well, President Obama must be feeling a bit like a pinata this morning. He is getting pounded by members of his own party for the deal that he cut with Republicans to extend the Bush-era tax rates. A deal a lot of Democrats say he never should have made. Joining us live from the White House this morning is the president's senior adviser David Axelrod. David, good to see you this morning. Thanks for being with us.

DAVID AXELROD, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thanks for having me.

ROBERTS: So progressives, certainly, they're pretty vocal about this idea that they feel betrayed on this deal to extend the current tax rates. Anthony Weiner said the White House not very good at making deals. Congressman Gary Ackerman saying we got screwed. What do you say to them?

AXELROD: I say the people who are going to get screwed as Congressman Ackerman says are the American people if we don't act to prevent their taxes from going up on January 1st. The typical family in this country would see a $3,000 tax increase on January 1st.

Unemployment insurance would end and two million people would see their lifeline cut, people who desperately seeking work right now. And the economy would take a huge hit for that. It was interesting to see economists across the board from left to right say that this package would - would create additional significant economic growth.

Some revising their estimates up by a full percentage point in terms of our economic growth, millions of jobs. All of that would be lost. So what we need to do is focus on what's good for the country, what's good for the American people and move forward. Compromised by its very nature involves things that neither side liked. We don't like the tax - extending even temporarily the tax cuts for the wealthy. More generous treatment of wealthy estates -

ROBERTS: Right.

AXELROD: That was the price Republicans demanded for a very significant package of tax cuts for the middle class and tax cuts to help businesses grow and hire. And so, that's - that is an important step forward for the American people. We ought to take it.

ROBERTS: But David, many of your fellow Democrats are saying that this isn't compromise, you just rolled over.

AXELROD: Well, you know, all those same democrats - if you - and I, look, they're my friends and I share my sense of anguish about those upper income tax cuts and the affordability of them at this time. But if you ask them where this ends, if we don't compromise now, basically they say we can have a protracted struggle and prove that the Republicans support the wealthy over the middle class. Well, I mean, I think it's understood that the Republicans have advocated here for the wealthy. And that has been their principal goal.

ROBERTS: Right.

AXELROD: But nobody would tell you that it would end better than this compromise. You know, we don't have - there's no end game to this. And in the interim, taxes will go up, people will lose their unemployment insurance, and the economy would suffer. And that's not a good deal for the American people.

ROBERTS: So basically you're saying, David, that this is not the deal you wanted, but this was the only deal you could get?

AXELROD: Well, no, I think it is a good deal in the sense that not only are we extending the Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class, but also we're extending tax cuts that we passed two years ago to help people with their college tuition. To help families with children. And there are additional things in here that will - there's an additional payroll tax cut for - that will help middle class people across this country.

So what I'm saying is that at a time when our economy needs additional energy, when people are struggling, that this is enormously helpful. And the opposite would be true if we don't do it.

ROBERTS: Stimulus is a bad word in Washington these days. But a lot of people are looking at this as a backdoor stimulus. But the question I have, how do you think this is going to affect the president politically in his own party? There are many Democrats who are very angry about this, as we said at the top. So angry, in fact, they're saying well, we're considering not contributing to the president if he seeks reelection in 2012.

AXELROD: Well, let's see, there's a lot of time between now and 2012. But I know this, if we don't keep our focus and we don't focus on the things that are important for the American people and important for our economic growth, then 2012 is going to be a very dim year. And it should be. We ought to focus on what's important to people. They sent us here to work for them, to get things done for them, not to engage in endless political wrangling. And so we need to move forward now.

ROBERTS: And, the overall cost of this is going to be close to $1 trillion, $900 billion over two years. And your deficit commission came out and said you've got to stop spending money that you don't have. So this just adds to the deficit and to the debt, how is this going to be paid for?

AXELROD: John, you know, there were several deficit commissions that have reported recently. One of them actually proposed the payroll tax cut that is in this package because all the deficit commissions recognized that if we don't get economic growth accelerating, we've made progress, but we need to accelerate it, that's going to have a profound effect on our deficits and debt. The most important thing we can do to get our deficits is to have robust economic growth.

We obviously have to do other things and we're going to do other things. But right now, all the deficit commissions recognized that getting growth accelerated is the most important thing we can do between now and 2012.

ROBERTS: And are you predicting that the economic growth as a result of this package is going to offset the cost?

AXELROD: Well, I don't know. I don't know - I'm not making the arithmetic computations here. All I can tell you is and you can see it reported this morning that every economist who has looked at this said this would be a real shot for economic growth. And we all know that economic growth helps reduce deficits just as recession helped add trillions of dollars to our deficit.

ROBERTS: David Axelrod for us this morning. David, thanks very much. We'll be watching as vice president Biden tries again to sell this to his fellow Democrats. Thanks so much.

AXELROD: All right. John, thank you.

CHETRY: Well, still to come, they're also tackling immigration reform today on Capitol Hill. Will Congress make college or military service a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who are brought here as kids? Up next, we're going to meet two people whose future depends on it.

38 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, today, Congress could vote on the Dream Act, giving almost a million illegal immigrants a path to citizenship by going to college or for serving in the military for two years. But critics are calling it reckless and call it mass amnesty in some cases. We are joined now by two people, both illegal immigrants who would be directly impacted by the bill.

Cesar Vargas' parents brought him to Brooklyn from Mexico when he was just five years old, and Gaby Pacheco's parents came from Ecuador when she was seven. Great to have you both here this morning.

CESAR VARGAS, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUPPORTING DREAM ACT: Thank you for having us.

GABY PACHECO, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUPPORTING DREAM ACT: Thank you.

CHETRY: You really are classic examples of who this Dream Act would help if it were to pass the Congress. Cesar, let me start with you. Are you worried that this will fail since there has not been a lot of Republican support?

VARGAS: Well, all I know is that I'll continue to fight for my dream. America's a can-do country, and I would do just that, persevere. Overall, all I want is the opportunity to serve my country and to get back to the country that has given me so much.

CHETRY: If you take a look at your - your resume, I guess you could put it, it's very, very impressive. You are going to be graduating from law school in May, you have a 3.8 GPA, you've interned with the Brooklyn DA, you've worked very hard and at the same time, you really can't legally work once you graduate. So what is your plan right now, Cesar?

VARGAS: At this point, as I mentioned before, it's fighting for my dream and to share my stories to our congressional leaders and to say that we're not a problem. We're the solution. We are here to serve our country. For me personally, I want to serve my country in the military and also to contribute to the economy and to serve and contribute to the country I love, the country I call home.

CHETRY: Gaby, as well, you've worked hard at school, an honor student, president of your student body in college. And you likened it - it's interesting, you said "I went from being this, you know, all-American, played on sports teams, did really well in school to now being a criminal." What are you going to do?

PACHECO: Well, I'm going to continue to fight and we're going to walk the halls of Congress and we're going to let the people know like Senator Lemieux from Florida that Mel Martinez was a champion for the Dream Act and he needs to do the right thing for Florida. As a matter of fact, 70 percent of the people, voters in the United States support the Dream Act. And what we're saying is to please give us a chance, give us an opportunity to serve and give back.

CHETRY: I just want to let people know what exactly the Dream Act would be, the requirements. You have to be under the age of 29, and you also would have to arrive in the U.S. before turning 16. Like you two, you were brought over with your families. You have to be in the U.S. for five years, graduate from high school, or have a GED, have a clean record and "good moral character." You would also then have to wait 10 years before gaining legal residency.

So Gaby, I want your take when somebody like Senator Jeff Sessions, the Republican from Alabama calls it a bill that would result in reckless proposals for mass amnesty and encourage more illegal immigration. What do you say to that?

PACHECO: Well, that's not true. What's going to happen is only the people that are here. The people that have been living here, myself, I've been living in the United States for 18 years, I'm an American. The only thing is I haven't had a path. I haven't had a way to legalize my status and the Dream Act would do just that.

And after the 10 years that we would become a resident. And then, you know, there's still a waiting period for me to be able to get my citizenship. It's a long process, but it would give us an opportunity to work, to go to college, to serve in our military, be in the front line, and give back to our country.

CHETRY: And Cesar, this is the other ironic part for you is that you know, you want to stay here. You said you want to contribute to the U.S. economy. You're sort of up against a wall unless this gets passed. But you've had offers from other countries, China, Spain, perhaps Canada that really want you and your brain power.

VARGAS: And that shows my commitment to this country. I love this country. This is my home. I don't want no medals, no awards. All I want is the opportunity to - to share in the American dream. In my heart and soul, I am an American.

CHETRY: Well, best of luck to both of you. You're doing very well for yourselves. And we'll see what happens as this goes before the Congress. Thanks so much, Cesar Vargas and Gaby Pacheco for telling your stories to us this morning.

VARGAS: Thank you.

PACHECO: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Well, still to come on this AMERICAN MORNING, bitter cold and a whole lot of snow. Rob Marciano's got this morning's weather forecast after the break. Now, 15 minutes until the top of the hour.

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ROBERTS: Thirteen minutes now until the top of the hour. Let's get a quick check of the morning's weather headlines.

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CHETRY: Well, still to come, the editor in chief of WikiLeaks jailed without bail in London. The U.S. wants to prosecute him but will they be able to even charge Julian Assange with a crime? Our Jeanne Meserve is looking into the options coming up at 8:15 Eastern.

ROBERTS: And it certainly doesn't take much for Sarah Palin to generate political buzz. Now Mike Huckabee is seeking some of that spotlight as he sells a book and ponders a run for the White House. We'll talk to Huckabee coming up in just a few minutes.

It's now almost 10 minutes till the top of the hour.

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ROBERTS: Tragic death on the baseball field. Sixteen-year-old Thomas Adams, a high school player of Garfield, New Jersey, died last weekend after he was hit in the chest by a pitch during practice.

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THOMAS ADAMS, SON DIED OF CARDIAC ARREST: The heart and the ball hit at the wrong time. And it just sent his heart into severe cardiac arrest. You know? So they couldn't get it back.

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CHETRY: The boy's father also says he was wearing the protective catcher's gear at the time. So what happened? Chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from Atlanta.

Sanjay, his father also said he had no known medical condition. So what happened here?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the medical examiner is reviewing what happened to Thomas right now so I think there's going to be a report pending.

And, you know, I think there's still a lot of potential things that could cause something like this, including some sort of as yet unrecognized heart problem. Obviously you just heard the father say there was no known medical problems but sometimes there may be something unrecognized that for the first time that anyone noticed it was something like this.

But there is something that people have thought about with regard to Thomas and other patients like him. Something known as Comotio Cortis, and that's sort of a big mouthful. But Comotio Cortis basically refers to a pretty rare condition of the heart. And what happens is a blow to the chest at precisely the right time sends the heart into what's known as ventricular fibrillation, which is a heart rhythm that is very inefficient heart rhythm, doesn't allow the heart to really pump blood to the body.

Let me just show you a little bit here. I have a heart model to show you for a second. When you think about the heart, you're actually getting electricity coming down through the heart from the chambers up here, known as the atrium, to the pumping chambers down here, the ventricles. That electrical activity sort of recharges itself before it gets to the pumping chamber. And it's a brief, brief millisecond but at the brief time with a blow to the chest, sometimes it can send the heart into an abnormal rhythm. That's what they think -- that's what people have speculated maybe have happened here. It's rare. About 188 cases over the last 15 years have been documented.

We talked about this on AMERICAN MORNING a few years ago. A lacrosse player from Cornell, 22-years-old, had the same thing happen to him. It was confirmed afterwards to be Comotio Cortis. In Thomas' case, the 16-year-old, he took this blow. He stood up, sort of staggered for a second and then fell down, which again, from a medical standpoint fits with this potential diagnosis. Very sad.

ROBERTS: Sanjay, in the past we've talked -- and this is among younger players, of using a softer ball to protect against something like this. But this young fellow was wearing protective gear, catcher's gear, and it wasn't enough in this particular case.

What else could parents and coaches do to prevent this?

GUPTA: Yes, a couple of things. First of all, if you look at the median age for this rare thing, it is among younger people, 10 to 16 typically is when this occurs. The heart is still developing to some extent.

The protective gear, obviously important for a lot of reasons, but unfortunately what we're talking about here that causes this is sort of a blow to the chest. So you get something that hits the chest and that force distributed across the chest. You typically want to happen as opposed to having a blow at any particular area. But the distribution of force can cause also this sort of problem.

The type of gear that would have helped, really, would have been a defibrillator on site. And we've been trying to figure whether there was one, or there wasn't. We can't seem to get a good answer to that. But what we know that if someone is in this abnormal heart rhythm, every minute that goes by that the likelihood of survival goes down by another 10 percent. So, you can do the math and find out that if EMS doesn't show up for nine or ten minutes, it's unlikely that someone's going to survive that.

The chest protective gear important, but to prevent this rare thing from occurring, you really need to give a shock to the heart to restore its normal rhythm.

CHETRY: Just quickly, so do you have the condition first and if you get a blow? Or does the condition come -- can anybody have it from getting a blow to the chest?

GUPTA: Right. It seems to have -- nobody seems to have an underlying cause. I guess it could happen to anybody. It seems to be more common in younger people, Kiran, in part because the heart is still developing and the protection around the heart is not yet fully developed. But this isn't an indication that there was something wrong with the heart ahead of time.

Again, in Thomas's case, we don't know exactly what happened. He could have had an underlying heart problem. But with Comotio Cortis, this particular problem, it could happen to anybody.

ROBERTS: Sanjay Gupta for us this morning. Doc, thanks so much.

Your top stories coming your way after a quick break. Stay with us.

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